Negotiation Management work by Grantham Visiting Fellow recognised in French Government study on Paris climate summit

Research by Grantham Research Institute Visiting Fellow, Kai Monheim, has been recognised in a new French Foreign Office sponsored study on how process management contributed to reaching the Paris Agreement on climate change. The French Government study looks at how key factors such as transparency, inclusiveness and trust-building contributed to the success outcome of the Paris summit. Kai’s paper, The ‘power of process:’ how negotiation management influences multilateral cooperation is based on his analysis of the different approaches to negotiation management taken at the previous Copenhagen and Cancún UN climate summits.

Kai personally briefed members of the French negotiation team back in April 2014 on key lessons to be drawn from the Copenhagen summit. Lead French official, Antoine Michon, commented on this workshop for them in hindsight after the Paris climate summit:

“I and my team greatly benefited from Kai Monheim’s presentation in 2014 on the lessons learned from previous presidencies. It helped us structure our approach to prepare and later exercise the presidency of COP21. The lessons drawn by Kai resonated in the many steps we took when interacting, at different levels, with parties to the UNFCC, and, in no small ways, contributed to the success of Paris.”